


Read a Book For a Change

by Suitjacketsonfire



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cas and Dean cuddle, Comfort, Cuddle, Gen, Harry Potter books, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sam accidentally insults Dean, Sam doesn't know as much about Dean as he thinks he does, illiterate!Dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-24 06:04:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16634372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suitjacketsonfire/pseuds/Suitjacketsonfire
Summary: Charlie and Sam want Dean to read the Harry Potter series, what they don't know is that Dean doesn't just dislike reading. He can't. And they accidentally insult him with their ignorance.





	Read a Book For a Change

"What do you mean you've never read Harry Potter?!" Charlie gasped, and boy did Dean regret bringing up the series.

"I've watched the movies, remember?" Charlie made the brothers, (well mostly Dean because he was the only one who hadn't seen them), watch the movies last week. They were good, and by the way Charlie and Sam talk about the books, he bet they are even better... but...

"You can't JUST watch the movies!" Charlie insisted, "then it's settled. You're reading the series." Charlie then turned around to run off. Presumably to go collect the books. Meanwhile, Dean was having a panic attack. Well, maybe that was exaggerating, but he was panicking. 

Dean... never exactly learned to read. With moving around all the time and watching Sammy, he didn't exactly have the time. And Dad didn't exactly care, reading wasn't important anyway. What's important is knowing how to shoot a .25 caliber. Or at least, according to Dad it was. Obviously Charlie doesn't know about this, and is Sam knows, he hasn't said anything about it. He probably doesn't think it's important for Dean to learn to read too. Sam's the smart one, he does the research. Besides, Dean's in his thirties, he's too stupid to learn now, so why try?

Charlie was back in what seemed like seconds, or he was just very caught up in his thoughts. Either way, Dean got shoved a load of books to carry. "There. Now read. And don't even think about looking up the cliff notes version to trick me, I'll know." Charlie gave him the death glare, but Dean was too busy trying to figure out what she meant by cliff notes. But then Charlie was gone. And it occurred to him that he had no way of getting out of reading these books unless he told Charlie that he was illiterate. Which is the Dean Winchester version of coming out to homophobic parents, so no thank you.

Sam's read the books. Maybe Dean can coerce him into giving him the details. It's worth a shot. 

Dean waddled over to the kitchen as best he could with the seven books in his arms. Once he got there, Sam was clearly deep in research mode but when Dean set the books down on the counter, it quickly got Sam's attention.

"Dude," Sam said then paused for a moment to figure out what was going on. "Are those the Harry Potter books?"

"Yeah, Charlie wants me to read them. But I thought, why not just get Sammy to tell me about them, so it's your time to shine. Give me your entire nerdy knowledge." Dean used humor to cover up how embarrassing this was. 

"Or... you can just read them for yourself and develop your own nerdy side," Sam through a crumbled up piece of paper at Dean. "It's not natural for someone your age to not have read the series."

Dean was silent for a while, but he didn't move either. What the hell? Sure, illiteracy is something Dean's not proud of, but he's ashamed of it enough already, Sam doesn't have to go rubbing it in. Dean opened and closed his mouth trying to figure out what to say, but Sam had already turned back to the computer, clearly done with Dean's idiocity, so Dean left.

He went to his room and pulled out his laptop. There were only a couple things Dean used his laptop for, and by a couple, he means one. Porn. It wasn't that hard to find it, back in 6th grade, one of his friends taught him how to find it and taught him what it was. Dean still uses those tips to this day, it's worked well for him so far. But Dean wasn't looking for that this time. He needed information on Harry Potter and quick. 

He copied the title of one of the books into the search bar. He wasn't sure what it said, but he just found each letter on the keyboard and hoped for the best. But the searches were all too complex, he didn't recognize the words. If he couldn't recognize the words, he couldn't cheat. Dean groaned extra loudly and through his laptop to the other side of the bed. Then did the thing he does when ever he's stressed. He prays to Castiel.

Most of the time, Cas always shows up. He always makes Dean feel better. He just knows. Dean figures it had something to do with putting him back together after hell, so Cas probably knows how stupid Dean is too. Hopefully he doesn't look down upon it as much as everyone else does, although, Dean knows he will.

"Hello, Dean." Dean didn't look up to see Cas.

"Hey, Cas."

"What's wrong?"

Dean raised up one of the many books. "I can't fucking read."

"I know Dean." Cas was suddenly closer, he took the book from his hand and set it aside, then took the rest of the pile and moved them too, placing his own body in the empty spot they left. "I wanted to fix that for you when I raised you from perdition, but I didn't want to mess with your soul."

"Great, I'm stupid all the way into my soul."

"I never said that."

Silence.

"Dean, do you believe you are stupid?"

"Believe? I fucking know!" Dean looked up. They held eye contact, then Dean looked down again. "It's not natural for someone my age to not be able to read."

"You aren't stupid Dean, your one of the smartest people I know." Dean snorted. "How many people have instincts like you do when it comes to hunts? Who else can patch up injuries like you do? You're a genius, Dean."

"But I can't. Fucking. Read."

"If it bothers you so much, we can get someone to teach you."

"Hell no."

"I don't understand what you want me to do then."

Silence.

"Oh." Cas said, then leaned down to wrap his arms around Dean's waist and place his head on Dean's chest. 

"What are you doing?" Dean choked.

"It's called a hug, Dean."

Dean laughed despite him, "I know that Cas, but why are you hugging me?"

"For comfort, you are upset, and I am comforting you. But if it's making you uncomfortable, I can move."

"No. No it's good."

A couple hours later, Dean was asleep, resting in Cas' arms.


End file.
